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Talk:Jeff and Annie/@comment-5679407-20140809061312/@comment-64.134.103.44-20140824180702
The age difference was most certainly not added as an irony. I'm not even sure how that's supposed to be ironic. But the fact that Jeff has both romantic AND paternalistic feelings for Annie, that's comedy gold. But you can't really mature your way out of that conundrum. I'm not even sure how Jeff/Annie shippers thought the only thing keeping them apart was immaturity, and that character development meant the door was open for their relationship. That's certainly not what the show had shown, and in fact had shown the opposite; immature Jeff and Annie acting immaturely allowed their sexual tension to flare up at times. Season 2 Jeff said "men are monsters who crave young flesh." It's clear he thinks it's ok with him when he wants to behave like an asshole. When he doesn't, and wants to be the better man, it causes him grief, because on the one hand, he has feelings for her, but on the other, that's something that is creepy. This is an interpretation agreed on by the writers; Andy Bobrow wrote that "no 38 year old can flirt with a 21 year old and not feel creepy right afterwards." This is also why they have Rich turn her down due to the age gap in spite of their chemistry, and why they had Jeff make a big deal of this as a sign of his good ethic. And by season 5, we see that he has matured somewhat, and the result is that he feels less uncomfortable being around her. The result is a stronger friendship, not better romantic prospects. For Annie's part, she had no qualms about the age gap at the beginning. It wasn'td till season 2/3 that she started seeing how it's creepy. Yet she still had a marriage fantasy and what she said was a love for being loved. And that was her character arc; she was a strong and independent character (or at least wanted to be), but she was holding herself back due to this marriage fantasy, of which Jeff was one manifestation. As she matured and became more independent, this became less of an issue and she grew away from full blown crush. However, there were still pieces of that remaining by season 5. That's why her speech about letting people want what they want applies as much if not more to herself than to Jeff. She realized that her crush on Jeff is self destructive and has not brought her happiness and instead a lot of issues. Jeff and Annie would not be a good endgame. They mirror Britta and Troy; they both have chemistry, but little to no compatibility. Annie is driven, idealistic, and has an Abed-like nerd streak. Jeff is a slacker, cynical, and not quite the same childlike nature as Annie and Abed. If they dated, it would disintegrate, just like Britta and Troy. Dan Harmon has also stated, repeatedly, that the group cannot survive a romantic pairing forming among them, and it's clear why. Even though Jeff and Britta are best friends, him dating Annie would eventually drive her away. Chemistry or not, Britta and Jeff have a long history. It's flared up since they stopped having sex, and it flared up quite recently. Whose to say it wouldn't flare up again? And this is why either pairing doesn't make sense, since another person will eventually bring everything back to center, almost like a pendulum. And, I'm sorry, but it is simply untrue that Jeff and Annie are anything analogous to Dan Harmon and Erin. He had said before that he had a built Jeff and Britta's relationship around the idea of "falling backwards in love.... It started with this ironically romantic concept that romance didn’t need to be in the equation. It made it exciting. Love always finds a way. If two people have been hurt enough, they trick themselves into falling in love through a different door...Presenting the idea that you’re full of shit believing that, too, was intriguing to me because that’s how the relationship with my girlfriend and virtually betrothed mate happened." I don't think Jeff and Britta are an endgame, as I don't think Dan Harmon is a Jeff and Britta shipper, but the idea that Jeff/Annie was the non traditional pairing is absurd. Jeff/Britta was always the subversive pairing.